How Can I Keep From Singing Zoom's Praises?

Let's all pause so I can rave once again about how much I love Zoom workshops. At around 9:40 this morning, we decided we weren't going to do a hiking day. I raced down the hall to my laptop and registered for this morning's workshop with the Off Campus Writers' Workshop in Chicago. It was being held at 9:30 their time, 10:30 mine. It ended up being an excellent workshop led by Suzanna Calkins on a subject I can use next month.

You cannot turn on a dime like that and get to a workshop half a country away that's starting in 50 minutes without Zoom. Also, because I joined the OCWW this year, this morning's workshop only cost me $10.

I don't know if I'll ever get over being amazed by things like this.

But that's not all!

After attending a two-and-a-half hour workshop--from Chicago, remember--we made another last-minute decision to do a one-hour walk this afternoon around a reservoir in eastern Connecticut. Not just any walk, a beautiful walk.

Look at these phragmites! We've never happened to see them at this time of year. Yes, they are an invasive species here that is destroying the native cat tails. But, man, I can't deny these were pretty spectacular looking.

As great as this walk was, it was better because I'd been to a workshop--and a good one--just a few hours before. How can I not love the technology that made this possible?

Then I got a rejection late in the afternoon. But that's how you know you're working, right?

The Weekend Writer: But Then A Workshop You Thought Was Going To Be A Bust Provides A Lot Of Value

Last month I did a Weekend Writer post on workshops, inspired by one I'd just taken that made my all-time worst list. This past Thursday I had a very different workshop experience.

 I took a workshop on humor writing, Using Humor to Deepen Emotional Impact with Kathleen Rooney through the Off Campus Writers' Workshop. No sooner had the workshop started then I realized that I had misread the workshop description. It was about humor and poetry, something I don't write, though I became interested in prose poetry a few years ago. I've dabbled in it. Barely.

Well, the mistake was totally mine. I knew I had taken an OCWW workshop with Rooney before and decided to put aside regret about my ineptitude, live in the moment, and see what happens.

What happened was a terrific workshop with excellent use of handouts. I came away with some new knowledge of humor terms (call backs! durational humor!) and the name of a George Orwell essay that I've found on-line but haven't yet read. (Funny, But Not Vulgar. And, no, I've never thought of George Orwell as being funny, either.) There were also a couple of opportunities to write, and I came away with what I think could be the beginning of one of those prose poems I've been dabbling in. Barely.

This was a really well-planned and well-executed workshop. On top of that, it was hybrid, meaning Rooney was speaking to a live group as well as a Zoom audience. Those don't always workout seamlessly. This one did.

I am particularly hopeful about the bit of writing I did in this workshop, because back in 2021 I took that other workshop with Kathleen Rooney that I mentioned earlier. It was on writing flash fiction and nonfiction. Looking back on my notes, I see that the work I did to a writing prompt in that workshop became my essay Enough, which was published four months later at Kitchen Tales. 

So Weekend Writers, while sometimes we have to suck it up when we stick ourselves with a disappointing workshop, sometimes we have to keep our minds open to what a workshop can offer us.

  

The Weekend Writer: A Couple Of Words About Workshops

I highly recommend that new writers take any writing workshops and classes that are available, affordable, and of interest to them. Writing is a craft, and very few people can learn it from just writing the same things over and over again without any thought of how the rest of the world reads and comprehends words on a page. 

However, not all workshops/classes are going to be terrific.

A case in point is the workshop (in reality a talk) I took this past week.  I thought the workshop leader was going to explain a method to help with drafting and revising. Instead, the workshop was about...Well, I would be hard put to say. This event makes my list of worst so-called workshops I've attended. 

Another Great Benefit Of Zoom

However, it was a Zoom workshop. Thus:

• It was cheap.
• I didn't have to get dressed up or made up.
• I didn't have to drive hours to and from the workshop site.
• I didn't have to find a place for lunch or decide to go without, which is always an option.
• I hand-drafted part of this blog post while the workshop leader was talking about who knows what.

 A really crappy workshop is nowhere near as big a loss when you're taking it over Zoom versus having to drive somewhere.

What Is A Writing Workshop, Anyway?

The word "work" in "workshop" suggests some kind of "work" is going to happen during it. You're going to do something during the workshop. However, in my experience many writing workshops are in reality talks or lectures. That doesn't mean you can't benefit from them, especially if you're just starting out. Personally, I'm a fan of a good lecture, especially if the lecturer knows how to use PowerPoint.

If you've been around the workshop/conference/retreat track a few times, though, you may get to the point that you've heard a lot and don't want to hear anymore. A member of my writing group once said she was tired of conferences, she wanted to write.

If you're interested in workshops that will do more than just tell you information, look for the word "generative" in the description. The workshop leader expects the workshop to generate work. Even workshop descriptions that suggest participants bring a project they're working on often end up being for workshops that involve very little work. I've had better experiences with workshops that are described as "generative." 

Old Wine In A New Flask

Some writing workshops, as well as writing books, do not provide new ideas or techniques. They're the workshop leader's or book writer's personal application and name for techniques other people have used and written about and that are generally called something else. If you are a new writer and you haven't heard any of this before in any way, shape, or form, you may find this helpful. 

If you have been writing and studying a while and have heard of this before in a different way and perhaps are even using it, you may find this old-wine-in-a-new-flask content confusing. You may end up sitting there searching for something new that just isn't there.

A Final Point

Sometimes you just have to suck it up, because you're in a lousy workshop and move on. I, myself, will be spending some time today continuing to watch a recording of a SCBWI workshop that is good. Okay, it's really a lecture, not a workshop, but so far it's been a good one.

Movin' on.

Time Management Tuesday: A Time Saver In The Time Of Covid

I've often written here about being careful about giving up time to things like conferences and workshops. They can suck up a day or two, not counting any preparation you have to do, and it's a gamble as to whether or not you're going to get anything for your effort. You might be better off committing that time to writing or reading or taking care of some personal business that will then free up some other time for work.

Last week I had an interesting experience with an on-line workshop that I believe proves my point.

All About Me

The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators is offering a series of digital workshops for its members. The week before last, writer Kate Messner ran a revision workshop. I had the option of signing up to take it live, in real time, so to speak, but for one reason and another didn't. I watched it the next week when I could squeeze it in between, I don't know, my pathetic attempts at making cloth masks and my obsession with working on my grocery order to be delivered to the house.

This was a very good workshop. I've never read anything by Messner, but she's well known and well regarded in the New England SCBWI world. The content, as well as the presentation, of this workshop suggests the buzz is well deserved.

More importantly, though, was how I took this workshop. In addition to taking it in my living room, perhaps in my yoga pants (I can't remember), because this thing was archived, I could go back to repeat things I missed, such as the title of a book she mentioned. I was able to stop it altogether for a while so I could put something in the oven for dinner.

Additionally, I did not have to put in an hour or two of driving to and from a site, which I have sometimes had to do for workshops. I did not have to get up early. I did not have to hunt around the day before to make sure I had something to wear. I did not have to decompress after I got home.

But It's Not Just About Me

A friend from my writers' group attended a day-long NESCBWI event last month that had to be switched to a remote program. She came away with contacts she could make submissions to and, as she pointed out, she saved time and gas money because she didn't have to drive to the southern part of the state to attend this.

The Cons Of Digital Workshops

 

Yes, I have attended some on-line programming over the years that wasn't terrific. That was even lame. But that's also true of events I've attended in the flesh. I once went to a workshop led by a very famous children's author who clearly hadn't prepared and didn't even know he was scheduled to be there for two hours. I lost the money I paid to see him, but also the time and effort it took to get there and home again. If we'd done that whole thing over the Internet, I would have lost only one of those three things.

"You make connections at real world events, Gail," some of you may tell me. No, I don't. And while it's true there are agents and editors out there who are closed to submissions unless they come from writers they've encountered at conferences, in my experience, they're open to everyone who attended the conference, not just the ones in their workshops. They can still do that with writers who've signed up and paid for virtual workshops. My writers' group friend is a case in point.

I Don't Believe In Predictions

There's no telling what life is going to be like after a few million people have spent six weeks or much, much more at home. It may not be any different at all. But if change does come, it might come because people end up liking some of what they were doing on their own. It remains to be seen how many people like saving time on their professional short-term learning experiences, and if we start seeing more and more workshops and presentations offered on-line.